Page 25 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

Her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked at him. “I guess you’re growing on me.”

Her stomach grumbled, and he chuckled, pulling back. “Let’s go get dinner.”

“What, together?”

“Yes, together. That’s what couples do. Plus, think of the nice message we’ll get from Tessa for being seen together publicly.”

“I have to write a report for this session.”

“So write it in the morning. Nobody’s going to look at it before then anyway. And that’s assuming they look at it at all.”

She clicked her tongue at him. “But you’ve been entirely uncooperative. We’ve barely done anything worth discussing in the report.”

He shrugged. “So write that. It’s not like Colton Beaumont being uncooperative is news to anybody. They’d believe that shit in a heartbeat. Might be the most believable thing you write.”

She rolled her eyes, placing the errant pen she’d thrown at him into her neat little pen holder and closing her laptop. “I swear to god, you’re going to cost me this job someday.”

“Maybe.” He grinned. “But today’s not that day. Come on, you’re clearly starving.”

Lucia’s phone kept lighting up with messages, the vibration shaking their table. Finally, she tucked it under her leg, shaking her head at Colton apologetically.

“Who’s that?”

“Oh, no. I don’t ask you about all those women on your phone. That’s not a part of the agreement.”

He clenched his jaw. Sure, their agreement was purely for show, but it wouldn’t exactly be a good look if either of them were linked to someone else. As they both were aware, the media would find a way to expose that.

Plus, he wanted to be the only person she was talking to.

“I only downloaded my social media apps to see the fallout after the situation with Clark. All those notifications were from DMs, which I never respond to, and I’ve deleted all the apps since.”

She sipped from her water. “Why were you looking at the fallout of our engagement on social media?”

Colton shrugged, embarrassed. He hadn’t planned on ever telling her that. “Wanted to see if he’d post about it, I guess. I don’t know what I was looking for.”

She grimaced. “Max rarely posted about me when we were together. He wasn’t going to say anything after we broke up.”

“Would you like for me to post about you?”

He knew Tessa had told them they needed to post about each other, but he wanted to know what Lucia wanted.

She waved her hand as she shook her head. “No, no. That’s not what I meant. He just posted about so many other things, it would’ve been nice to be on his profile somewhere. I wouldn’t expect someone who doesn’t use those apps to post.” She reached for her water again. “Plus, we’re getting a little old for social media.”

He heard her phone vibrate, eyes flicking down her body at the noise. He reminded himself, not for the first time, that this was all a ruse. She didn’t owe him anything, not even fake loyalty.

“It’s Max, by the way. I’m not, like, talking to other people while we’re publicly together. He just hasn’t left me alone since the news came out.”

He mentally counted the number of downsides of their deal, at least for her. She had to report to a supervising analyst. In addition to all of her regular work and the work she did with him, she now had to create a report after every session. And, apparently, Max was so pissed off, he was blowing up her phone. The piece of shit had probably treated her like garbage during their whole relationship and had just expected her to be there for him after he cheated.

“What’s he saying?”

She swirled her water with her straw, ice clinking against the glass. “Keeps saying it’s pathetic that I left him for you. That you would be the type of person to take his sloppy seconds.”

Colton’s right hand clenched his glass tightly. The next time he saw Max Clark, he was going to deck him. Pummel him. Eviscerate him.

Lucia must’ve noticed him tense, because she continued, “Sorry, don’t take that personally. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Colton cleared his throat, his voice low but dangerous. “I’m not mad he said that about me. I’m pissed he said that about you.”

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